Every year, sales at on-line retailers surpass the totals of the year before. Computer users have become more and more comfortable reviewing products on the internet and having them delivered by mail order. Often, such purchases are paid for using credit cards. Such an approach may be convenient, such as when buying a large item from an established retailer. Other transactions lend themselves more toward on-line payment processing systems (which themselves may be obtained through credit card companies or by other mechanisms). For example, person-to-person transactions may be paid for through open payment systems such as GOOGLE CHECKOUT or PAYPAL, such as when the person providing the product or service (the merchant or vendor) does not accept credit cards. Other types of purchases may also be carried out using such payment systems.
Small vendors such as individuals may have a need for such payment systems, such as when they cannot afford processing fees associated with other payment systems, cannot accept the risk of certain payment systems, or do not want to undertake complicated registration processes for other payment systems. For example, a seller of movie memorabilia may register with one of the on-line payment processing systems and may have others send them money for each sale. Such a user may also develop a web page that permits users to click on items to select, and that carries out an ordering and payment process for such users.
However, such an approach is often much less fulfilling for the user and the vendor than is a similar system offered by a major on-line store. For example, purchases from an integrated on-line store may appear to be part of a seamless process to the user, with a common user interface throughout the shopping and purchasing processes. In contrast, use of a general payment system (i.e., a system that is open to various vendors who register with the system, such as by providing an account identifier for the deposit of finds from making sales) may not be so smooth. For example, when a user selects an item, they may be directed away from the vendor's web page and to a web page associated with the payment system—a page that may be very different from the vendor's page, which will cause disruption to the user's actions, with a transition that looks less-than-professional. In addition, a vendor may have to spend extensive time coding a page with all sorts of special controls, and may even have to hire a programmer to develop the page in order to interact with such a payment system.